#portrait

Freelancing basics 101

Nov 27, 2020
4 min read

There is a familiar say "slow and steady wins the race", well that's what my father kept telling me and though he never had any business of his own, he did deal with many to understand the basics. It is been 10 years and I guess I have done enough mistakes and took enough chances to be good enough to share what I have learned with you.

My childhood dream was not to be a creative artist rather I wished to join the national defense. I am born outspoken and situations down the line have made me a rebel. I at times feel I am floating in an ocean and the water is taking me places without my wishes and yet make me hit the right rock to keep the passion alive. Ok! no more emo talks and let's get straight to the point and I am pretty sure you all are eager to understand how to be better at freelancing. I before share the 101 steps let me clarify every freelancer has its own journey, conscious and subconscious, all the below are from my due personal experience. You are free to stop here or feel free to read ahead and I hope you get a few pointers good enough to incorporate.

You don't earn in the initial years

The reality of earning a handsome amount against a day or few days job is not something you will see in the initial years, it took me 5 years to be well aware enough among producers and clients who considered me for the job. When I started back in 2014, I was more concerned about brands I can work for and quoted enough to cover my rent and a few basic needs. Quality variation in the portfolio was my main intention. Survival remained a question for long.

As time passed and I came across people who helped me to grab better clients with quality budgets. Every industry runs around many people who have their own specific specialization, one needs to reach out to have a team in mind to be capable of a bigger assignment.

Getting personal with work

It is in human nature to be very personally attached to its craft and skill and it becomes the whole of you. I have personally taken so many work rejections and made myself enough crazy. It took me years to understand that there are many other factors untold than our work befitting the job. Anger, having various highs and lows and getting desperate is something you are going to go through and how you deal with it will matter a lot. I have made sure to turn up with one image a day and sharing it over media platforms to be seen many who may or may not consider me for a job. Passive presence makes a lot of sense.

Human behavior

If you think understanding your better half in a relationship has taught you everything about how one behaves and why one behaves then you have not yet started with the basics. I have learned so much how people react and how they react as against when dating a person.

Negotiation is a skill you learn along the way or hire someone good enough to do so on your behalf but let's be practical, how many can hire someone and how practical it is to have one. Negotiation has not to be done with every possibility, you need to learn and understand when to negotiate and when to be under the clause of "Non-negotiable" how much to cut down and when to step your foot down. I encourage people to observe how local businesses negotiate and learn to understand the terms they put it down.

Financial dependency

I have read enough, seen enough and been myself one of them who do depend on folks for survival. I reside in Mumbai in a not so pocket-friendly corner, and I do go little out of cash from time to time. I don't have much to say about it except it is ok, do justice to the money and cut down your expenses where ever possible. We Millenials need to understand the concept of saving and the sooner you get into the better are chances you handling any crisis with ease.

An unstable social life

There is nothing more dangerous than being lonely on the path of becoming a freelancer. It so happens the best of the people who made big in life are often lonely. We humans and we tend to live in a tribe, as a communal animal we need to have a basic human interaction on day to day basis. Sadly there is a truth many are able to handle it well and many tend to sink into depression. As we grow people get their priority sorted and tend to live in their own world. Having a schedule is important above everything and I can't stress enough to the fact you will be your own friend down the line.

Hii, I am shovona, a freelance commercial photographer who resides in the economic hub of India, Mumbai. As an artist, I undergo the above almost every day and I am here to support others to let them feel cool about anything happening in life.

Feel free to contact me for any portrait, corporate, food, product photography related queries or just drop a hi! at

shovonakar@gmail.com

#freelancecommercialphotographer #mumbaiphotographer #womanphotographer #product

#food #portrait #advertisingphotographer

How to be better at instagram

Nov 27, 2020
4 min read

We all love being loved and love being known and acknowledged, the human attitude of being in good books of others is a need, healthy though we mark it as insecurity. How true it is a matter of how you approach. The explosion of the internet and the beginning of a new era called social media may keep our parents a little way off and help them to stick to old traditional ways of being in a family and extend when needed. We the millennials sadly are losing the track of being behind the line. Yes, we are way more connected to people than ever before and it's way too easy for many companies to understand you as a person before you going to give an interview and getting recruited. I guess you don't believe me? It is indeed a fact of today's world that the company you wish to work for may have scanned your social presence and the way you interact with your audience at a personal and public level way before you even submitted an application to get accepted. Many of my clients may not judge my skill based on my social followers and presence but they do love to know more than the work factor.

Now coming back to the question of how well-skilled are we to have a well mannered social life on a social media platform? You may either just made a profile to be on the path of the upcoming influencer or someone who is just there to know the world more than the mere four walls of your usual office or studio. There are a few things which I have observed which many other blogs will guide you to do to brings one's attention (the one you admire) or connect someone for any collaboration related activity. They tend to miss the pointers one should follow to keep the sanity alive. Let me be very honest, texting is worst way to put your thoughts in place mainly in social media platforms, you miss your tone, you use too many words, you do sound pushy and needy though your agenda was to be humble enough unless you are some copywriter whose profession revolves around curated bunch of words provoking one to raise the tone in its mind. Huh..! we all can't be yet it is important to understand what to do and where to stop to lead to any misunderstanding.

Lately, Instagram, post been taken over by Facebook has made it algorithm quite challenging for many new users to gain traffic and paid promotion does involve money but it is not meant for everyone to put it from its one pocket. Well, organic marketing follows the old school method which many find taxing. My friends and else I have heard many tactics people tend to follow to gain attention or followers but they often forget what not to do. The worst thing you will like to do to yourself is getting yourself in the "avoid/block/report" book of others.

FOLLOW FOR FOLLOW

Many articles have suggested the act of following an account and in return, they may follow you back and when they don't, one ends up unfollowing. The scratch my back policy is annoying and random followers are not going to lead your agenda anywhere, people are smart and smart ones are patient and they are very particular about whom they follow and by whom they wish to get followed.

Design a well-thought profile providing something back to your viewers, that is good enough for the trespasser to "Follow" you!

DIRECT MESSAGE

Instagram is a great platform to connect to people and the option to connect someone on a personal level gives leverage to share your thoughts and opportunities. Sadly many tend to misuse it. The sheer interest to gain the "special" attention and making random conversation may sound a great move to have a conversation and I don't deny many do like it, but I am targeting people who are running a business/blog over the platform. Be respectful to people, be honest about your reasons to connect. A lure statement about one's personal life and the very act of getting too personal without even knowing the person is not cool.

GETTING INTRUSIVE

We need to understand every person has a right to privacy, and one has to respect it even if you do not like it. Instagram has evolved in the past many years sadly people have gone reverse. It is a platform where people love sharing life, emotion, ideas in a visual format and they may not be here to make friends. I have seen much where people love to get too intrusive to understand me more than what I have to offer. Sadly they go sexual, sexist, communist, yes people do so!

Understand your line which you are not supposed to cross.

There has been a drastic fall of ethics where people forget when to not to cross the very line. Social media might have brought us closer but we are losing the concept of mutual understanding and respect. Freedom of speech is now a social abuse and bullying. We are now more prone to venerability, my real concern is how we are shaping the coming generation, I find it really scary and I will be honest, social media is, in reality, might give you a company strong enough to make you feel self-satisfied and entertained, sadly it is making us more lonely than ever.

We, humans, are not meant to be alone, as a social and communal animal that we are and however we say we like our "Me time" we grow with others, we evolve with others.